New Arrival - Zac (probably)

We've had a long night!

Yesterday (Sunday) at about 5am Yolanda started having contractions. Pretty much the same as last time with Sol the intervals were far too short for it to be 'by the book' but we were relaxed about it. In the calm I warned work that I wouldn't make it in on Monday. Mid-morning we fitted the TENS machine, which apparently worked excellently. Yolanda was able to make us lunch and then go off to sleep. Unfortunately during her sleep the contractions stopped. We weren't really sure what to do so we hung out for a while and then went for a walk to her Mum's. Whilst there Sol started playing with the Nativity scene, of which there is a very cheesy electronic component. Anyhow, standing there about to give birth was too good an opportunity to miss so we dressed up a bit to honour the season and tradition.



Some hours later I trotted back to Maribel's (Yolanda's Mum's) to pick her up and we all walked back and put Sol to bed. It took quite a while for the contractions to start again, giving Yolanda a chance to cook dinner whilst I watched the football (I was really doing DIY - I fitted a cooker hood and a couple of hooks to hang guitars from) but I know how this story will be told, even though I of course offered to cook but felt that Yolanda being vertical might speed things along! We also had chance to watch 'Big Bang Theory' and then Yolanda watched Casualty before we felt inspired enough to go and get checked out at the hospital. Just like last time, she was 5cm dilated at this point, so we were in for the night. Contractions seemed to be irregular but with the assistance of a stopwatch on my phone I was able to bring a bit of science to bear and found them to be mostly 1m 50 with some sneaking in at about 30s. Yolanda didn't believe me until I started counting down to the next contraction, by which time she was convinced!

After the usual painful and long contractions process and thrashing around in the birthing pool both Helena's back and mine had had it, and Yolanda wasn't having much fun either. But when the pushing started things were very different from last time and it seemed like only 5 good pushes did the job and out plopped the little boy in to the water. We think we'll call him Isaac when he is naughty and 'Zac' the rest of the time.

Zac was born about 4am on Monday 13th December weighing 7lbs 7oz (his brother was born on Monday 13th of July 2009 but it would be too eccentric even for us to use the 'Solomon Grundy born on a Monday' inspiration for a second time!)

So, Mother and Baby are doing very well and we're already back home. It's odd but in less than the time I usually spend at work we've been to the hospital, had a baby and got home! The helpers are completely knackered. I may need to see the osteopath again soon. Sol has so far been very good with the little one but he is not quite sure what to make of him, though we had a GREAT time feeding the pigeons and the ducks when I got home (I think he even said Duck! for the first time). A bit later some ducks spotted us along the river and flew over. How impressive are they at landing their little water ski feet on the water. I don't think I've ever seen that so clearly before. Wow!